Dobermans are lovely dogs. They are so energetic and full of life. Keeping your Doberman puppy in a crate helps them feel safe and cared for. It also prevents them from damaging valuables in the home.
You should do your best to make sure your dog feels comfortable in its crate when the door is closed. How can you do that? You can simply command your dog to enter its crate. When it enters, you should close the door for a few minutes and pass treats to it. You can also praise your dog while it’s in its crate so it will feel comfortable. After 10 minutes, allow your dog to come out of the crate. Don’t keep your dog all day in its crate, it can be so traumatic for it.
When you want to buy a crate for your dog, make sure it is large enough to accommodate your dog. Ensure your dog can move its body in the crate freely, stand up and easily lie down. Let it not be too spacious, so it doesn’t turn its crate into a toilet. Allow your dog to get used to staying in his cage for some minutes. Stay around the crate and help it understand its new home. There are different sizes of crates and you can get a good one for your dog at a pet supply store.
You should know that crate training your Doberman puppy takes time. It can last for weeks depending on the age of your puppy, its previous experiences, and temperament. You need to be patient when it comes to crate training your dog. Take one step at a time. There are some steps you should follow when it comes to crate training. Check them out.
Step 1: Start to introduce your Doberman puppy to its crate.
When you start introducing your puppy to its cage, leave them open for a while. Don’t start closing it immediately. Don’t keep the crate in an isolated place in your house. Keep the crate in a place where your family members stay most times. To provide comfort for your puppy, place a soft towel or blanket in the crate. Then, you allow your dog to explore its crate with the door open.
To attract your dog to go into its crate, put treats in the crate and watch it go eat it. If the treats don’t attract your dog, try using toys too. Speak to your dog with excitement written all over you. Your dog may not want to stay in its crate for long immediately you buy it. Don’t try to compel him to always stay in its crate.
Try repeating this step until your Doberman puppy gets used to it.
Step 2: Give your Doberman puppy food in the crate.
You must start to give your puppy food in the crate after introducing it to the crate. It will help your puppy to start getting used to the crate.
Try to place the dish of food inside the crate so your puppy enters the crate to eat. When your puppy is eating, close the door and open it at least 10 minutes after your puppy finishes eating.
Your puppy may cry in the crate if you allow it to stay there for too long. Try to allow it to come out when it starts to cry but don’t do that always. Sometimes, ignore your dog when it’s crying so it doesn’t always use crying as a way of staying outside its crate.
Step 3: It’s time to start leaving your dog in its cage for a long period.
When you are at home, practice leaving your dog in its crate for a short period. Do this when you notice that your dog is no longer scared of staying in the crate.
You can lure your dog into the crate with a treat in your hands. As it enters into the crate, shower it with praises and wear a smile on your face. Stay around the crate for 10 minutes then go somewhere else in your house and come back after some minutes. Keep repeating that until your dog can comfortably stay in its crate for 30 minutes without whining. It might take a few days or weeks for your dog to get used to staying in its crate for half an hour without you being around it.
Step 4: Crate your dog at night and when you leave the house.
It is good you put your dog in its crate at night and leave it by your bedside. It has a way of building a stronger bond between you and your dog. When you notice that your dog can sleep very well around you at night, you can start moving it gradually to the place you want it to be kept.
When your dog can comfortably stay in its crate for 30 minutes with you around the house, you can then practice leaving it at home for a short period. But before you leave them, keep toys and treats in the crate so they can be busy while you are away. Don’t crate them immediately you choose to leave the house. Rather, crate them for 15 to 20 minutes before you leave the house.
Always praise your dog before you leave the house. But don’t be excited when you return so you don’t increase the sadness of your dog.
Continue crating your dog for a short period while you are at home or not so they get used to their crate.
Why is a crate good for your Doberman puppy?
- It can teach your puppy good behavior.
- It teaches your puppy how to keep its home clean at all times.
- It prevents your puppy from chewing toys he is not allowed to chew.
- It provides a relaxation spot for your puppy.
- It gives your puppy a safe place to stay when you keep it in your car when you’re in transit.
How To Tire Out A Doberman: Steps You Can Take to Control a Hyper Doberman
Doberman is also called the Doberman Pinscher. Dobermans are very beautiful and intelligent dogs. They are very loyal and they do great as guard dogs. They perfectly suit family life and they are good with playing and protecting children.
If you own a Doberman, you must have noticed that they are very energetic and active. They can get hyperactive sometimes.
There are certain steps you can take to control a hyper Doberman. Check out these steps below.
Step 1: Engage your Doberman in regular and proper exercise.
This is an effective way of controlling your hyper Doberman. Exercising your Doberman reduces its excess energy. And when your dog is tired because of exercise, it becomes calm. Exercise your dog to the extent that all it wants to do is relax. You can make your Doberman carry a backpack while you take it for walks too.
You can play hide-and-seek with your Doberman. You hide while your Doberman goes all out in search of you. It’s fun. It’s a great way of exercising your Doberman.
Allow your Doberman to undergo two hours of exercise each day. You can choose to break the hours of exercise into two. You do one hour in the morning and the other in the evening.
During exercise, explore different activities and observe which is best for your Doberman.
Step 2: Create a routine for your Doberman.
If you don’t know this, dogs generally love routine and your Doberman is inclusive. And if you want to easily tire out your Doberman, creating a routine for it is one way you achieve that.
Create a schedule for your Doberman so it doesn’t end up creating one for itself. And you know what that means? It will start exhibiting unhealthy behaviors that you won’t be comfortable with. Let your dog know when its mealtime is, when it should go to bed and when it should exercise.
When your dog has a routine they undergo daily, it will be too busy to want to portray hyperactivity.
Step 3: Allow your Doberman puppy to socialize with other dogs and people.
Your young puppy also needs to socialize with other human beings and dogs. If they have other puppies to associate and play with, they are less likely to be hyperactive.
If you won’t always be available to play with your Doberman, allow it to play with other puppies. Allow your Doberman to socialize with your friends and family members too, so when you’re not there with it, it can freely associate with them.
Other puppies will help your Doberman lose excess energy when they play, this way, their hyperactivity will reduce.
Step 4: You should calm down.
You can also be the reason why your Doberman is hyper. If you are always in a hurry, running here and there, it can encourage your Doberman’s hyperactivity. You should keep your high-energy behavior for when you and your Doberman go out to exercise.
You should be calm if you want your Doberman to be calm too. If your dog sees that you are calm, it will also want to calm down. If you are naturally not a calm person, your Doberman will find it difficult to stay calm.
Step 5: Change your dog’s diet
The food your dog consumes can influence its behavior. If your dog consumes a lot of sugar, it will boost its energy level and this will lead to hyperactivity. Before you feed your dog, check the label on its pet foods. If the number of additives, colorings, and preservatives is high in its food, it will trigger hyperactivity.
Take your time to feed your dog with healthy food. Observe how your dog reacts when you feed it with certain kinds of foods.
Step 6: Allow your dog to play with toys.
If you give your Doberman heavy-duty toys, it can help to trigger various senses that will tackle any form of hyperactivity. Make sure the toys you buy are strong and repellent to chewing. You should buy toys that can hold treats. Many toys help the intellect of your dog. Some of them are Zanies and Kong-brand chew rubber.
Steps 7: Training
Dobermans are very energetic and protective, that is why many people use them as guard dogs. You can tackle your Doberman’s hyperactivity by engaging it in mentally challenging training. If you consistently train your Doberman, it can reduce its excess energy and channel it into something amazing. Enroll your dog in obedience lessons. Go there regularly with your dog, so you can teach your dog great commands that will be useful in its daily activities.
Step 8: Do not encourage hyper behaviors.
When your dog is acting hyper, ignore it. Just act like you can’t see what it’s doing. If you try to run around it, it will trigger its hyperactivity. You can decide to distract it with some things like calling its name or commanding it to sit down.
Do Dobermans ever calm down?
Yes, they do. Dobermans are very energetic and alert. You can help your Doberman calm down by adjusting his daily routine. Your positive attitude towards your Doberman too can help in making it calm down.
Since Dobermans are very energetic, they need to undergo daily exercise so they don’t become hyperactive. If your Doberman becomes restless and bored, they become hyperactive.
If you continue to make your Doberman feel neglected, it will increase their hyperactivity but if you want your Doberman to calm down, try to always spend time conversing with it. This will reduce boredom and tackle its hyperactivity.
How many hours of exercise does a Doberman need?
Your Doberman needs more than 2 hours of exercise daily. This is because they are an energetic breed of dogs. When you engage your Doberman in exercise, make sure you put their weight, current health condition, and age into consideration.
Exercising your Doberman will help to improve its digestive system, it will strengthen its joints and muscles too.
Also, your Doberman needs daily exercise to prevent it from digging, barking, and chewing things that it is not supposed to chew.
Your Doberman will trust you more if you make it exercise regularly.
It also helps to create an amazing bond between you and your Doberman. It reduces their anxiety level and keeps them healthy.
Don’t deprive your Doberman of regular exercise if you love it. It needs it as much as it needs food to survive.
How often should you walk a Doberman?
Your Doberman doesn’t only need daily exercise, it also needs you to go for walks with it every day. You can just include the walks in its daily exercise routine. You should walk a Doberman at a brisk pace or off-leash pace for 30 to 45 minutes every day. You can increase how often you walk your Doberman as it matures.
Walking your Doberman daily is not enough. You also need to make it exercises.
Walking your Doberman is a beautiful experience. It allows you to converse with your dog and make it feel comfortable around you.
At what age do Dobermans calm down?
At age 4, Dobermans start to calm down. Maturity tends to calm a Doberman down but that doesn’t mean it will stop being the energetic dog that it has always been, it will only be more controlled.
The calmness in your Doberman would be more pronounced if you trained it very well while it was growing up. If you allow it to go through a daily routine of exercise and walks too, it will enhance your Doberman’s calmness when it grows old.
When your Doberman gets to age 7 or 8, it becomes calmer. But that should not stop you from allowing it to go through a daily routine of exercise. This will keep its muscles strong, keep its weight in check, and prevent sickness like heart disease.
How do you punish a Doberman?
It is not good to leave your Doberman in its crate for long as a form of punishing it. It is also not good for you hit it physically. That’s animal abuse and it’s not healthy for your Doberman. Although Dobermans don’t quickly respond to physical punishments. If your Doberman is very aggressive, don’t look into its eyes for long, it may think you want to fight with it.
You can simply punish your Doberman by ignoring it when it becomes aggressive, then when he sees that you didn’t give the needed attention, it will calm down but if it doesn’t, call its name or tell it to “sit”.
Before you punish your dog, know the source of its aggressiveness and tackle it. Your Doberman is being territorial when it is aggressive to only visitors. If it is aggressive towards its food, it is trying to protect its resources. The source of its aggressiveness usually comes from warning off perceived threats.
You can also leash your dog. This is another way of punishing it. Don’t try to whip your dog.
Praise your dog and give it plenty of fuss. Then, you can suddenly stop the fuss and yell or smack your dog to correct it for displaying unpleasant behavior.
Immediately your dog indicates signs of aggressiveness, stop praising it. This will make it realize that you don’t approve of what it did.
When your dog stops being aggressive, reward it with treats. This will teach him that being calm comes with positive reinforcement but being aggressive does not.
Conclusion
I am sure you now know how to treat your Doberman very well. Dobermans are intelligent and amazing dogs, they should be given the attention they need.
If you want to enjoy being with your Doberman practice all the tips that were outlined.